CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW HERE.

The cheers that arose whenever Mike Skinner, the formidably average-looking face of The Streets, asked the crowd, “Can you hear me?” were a deluded lie. The biggest fault of this gig was not on stage, it was behind the sound desk. Words became muffled and instruments indistinguishable. Skinner’s impeccable four-piece band was left sounding just like the next drum-machine-Macintosh-powered doof-doof fest. In a venue that had proven to offer such great acoustics the night before with sound barrage that was Primal Scream, you feel cheated when something as simple as making vocals audible is stuffed up.

That said, Mike Skinner seems to power through everything and anything. Jumping on-stage to the tune of hundreds of ex-pats cheering “Skinner! Skinner!”, he unleashes a vocal assault with such gravitas that the aforementioned sound issues become a side-note. Apologies for being jetlagged aside, Mike seemed as energetic as ever. Opening with Everything Is Borrowed and continuing with a set heavy on early material, you feel misplaced not mouthing along to every line of Skinner’s spoken-word-like rapping style. His delivery is infectious, even through the barrier of fuzz created by the PA throughout the night.

Nonetheless, what differentiates Mike Skinner to the rest of the overcrowded garage/hip-hop scene is his ability to come off as a commoner in a world of superstars. Complete with white shirt and khaki shorts, he’s an unusual sight to see on the stage of a sold-out venue, half a world away from home. Yet he orchestrates the audience before him not like an MC but like a party host. He does beer floats mid-song, invites us to do strange dance poses in-time with the music and makes suggestive eye contact with the front row. Skinner constantly reassures us that we’re, “Here to have a good time,” and he delivers in droves.

Undeniably, the highlight of the show came during a stroke of divine intervention. Suddenly the sound becomes crystal clear for one of Skinner’s most sentimental songs, Never Went To Church. As every instrument and every word, including the beautifully powerful voice of Kevin Mark Trail, combines into a stark reminder of why this is one of the least-played songs on The Streets’ live trail. The honesty that Skinner places into every line is no more evident than when he is directly telling them to you.

As the encore proved to be a epic finale, including recent hit Heaven for the Weather and fan favourite Fit But You Know It, he thanked the audience for coming along, “even with the financial crisis happening.” It epitomises the reason why The Streets put on such a great live show. Mike doesn’t show an ounce of pretension, yet brings to the stage a presence that surrenders the audience into a cheering, dancing fit. In a world where we pay hundreds just to get cold-shouldered by – œrock stars’, The Streets are a breath of fresh air.